Kindly We Scatter
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Raven reached out to pat her hood lightly. Summer liked that she never tried to pull her hood off or force Summer to show her face when she didn't want to. She liked a lot of things about Raven, probably far too many.


**This was a commission for seravy ! They asked for a Summer/Raven fic, (and when I offered happy or sad, they chose sad).**

 **A/N: PLEASE understand that at the time I wrote and am posting this story, we still know next to nothing about most of team STRQ, their weapons, personalities, or their real relationships with one another. It's doubtful that Summer and Raven had a romantic relationship in canon, but this fic is merely exploring it for the sake of what the commissioner asked for, so if you're going to complain about it in the end, do us both a favor and don't read!**

 **The ages, weapons, and descriptions of the characters as well as interpretations of their personalities is purely speculation in this fic. I merely inferred what they might be like based on the bits and pieces we currently know.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

Kindly We Scatter

Finally, it was time.

She was only sixteen years old, but Summer had worked herself hard over the years, always training or practicing with her weapon whenever she got so much as a moment to herself.

Ever since she'd been a child, she'd seen and heard of horrible things.

Monsters.

Creatures that haunted her nightmares before she'd even seen them with her own two eyes. Their presence was a plague, and the epidemic was spreading more and more each day.

Which was why she'd worked so hard to get herself here.

Beacon Academy.

Presently, she stood on a small platform at the far end of a line of other students. There were dozens of them here, all training for the same purpose. To become huntsmen and huntresses.

And this was their initiation.

Their headmaster and his assistant were standing before them on the edge of the cliff, explaining the rules of the task Summer and her fellows would have to complete in order to earn a place on a team at the Academy.

The headmaster, who went by the name of Ozpin, was an older gentleman with grey hair and smart-looking glasses. Even as he explained the rules to them, he held a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Once you've all reached the Emerald Forest, you will find a partner. Whomever you make eye contact with first shall be your partner for the rest of your time here at Beacon."

Summer stiffened a little and pulled her white cloak even further up over her head.

 _We have to make partners?_

She would've rather done this alone. But she supposed knowing good teamwork was a major component of any successful huntress' mindset.

The woman who had introduced herself as Glynda held a scroll before her chest in a professional manner, though she couldn't have been terribly older than Summer herself. Her light blonde hair fell just above her shoulders, and had she not been scowling so much behind her glasses, she might've looked very nice.

"You will all be required to retrieve a relic," she was projecting to them. "Once you've gotten it, you and your partner will return to the cliffs and present it to Professor Ozpin and myself. From there, we shall determine which pairs will be partnered up to create teams of four, and we shall decide which people will fail the initiation."

Summer's heart sank instantly at the word "fail."

 _No. I've come too far for that..._

Once Glynda had finished speaking, she raised her head and stalked down the line of students.

"Are there any questions?"

Summer peeked past the rim of her hood, but not a soul raised a hand. Glynda nodded.

"Very well. Just remember, the forest will harbor creatures of Grimm, and Professor Ozpin and myself will not be interfering. Good luck to all of you."

With those words, she took a step back to stand beside Ozpin.

From what Summer could tell, he seemed to be hiding a smile behind his coffee mug.

"Now then," he said. "You shall begin the demonstration of your skills by showing us a proper landing."

Summer didn't have the time to be confused about his statement. His eyes had traveled down the line of gathered freshman and now bore directly into hers.

Had she the time to be embarrassed or intimidated by the eye contact, Summer would have shrunk away behind her hood.

But she didn't have the luxury.

Rather than waiting to hear a command and having them all sprint off down the side of the cliff and into the forest below, the platform shifted beneath her boots without warning-

-and _launched_ her two hundred feet into the air.

She would've screamed just from the sheer shock of it all – that's what she got for being first in line. But the rush of the launch quite literally took her breath away, and before she knew it, she was soaring over the treetops.

Distant shouts of surprise told her that her fellow freshmen hadn't been giving much more time to prepare themselves either before they'd been propelled.

But she didn't have time to think about them. The ground was approaching _quickly_.

Squinting, she reached beneath her white cloak to the weapon at her hip. She drew her scythe, a long, lightweight, but incredibly sharp curved blade. As she felt gravity pulling her down, she swiftly flicked a small lever beside the trigger of her weapon.

The blade she'd designed was one of a kind, forged of a certain combination of elements that resulted in its incredible sharpness, enough to cut through anything she could hook at the end of it in one pull.

But the lever she pulled now adjusted the blade's sharpness, dulling it down.

Now, as she fell amongst the treetops, Summer extended her arm and her weapon along with it. The duller blade caught in several tree trunks, not enough to slice through them as the previous one would've.

The sudden impact caused her to jerk forward a bit, but with a skillful shift of her weight, she righted herself in midair. Grunting, she pulled her scythe free of the bark, and let herself drop down the rest of the way to the forest floor.

Leaves and grass stirred around her as she landed, instantly casting a wary glance at her surroundings.

She had expectations of the levels of danger about these woods. She wasn't about to fail this initiation exam, at least not without putting up a good fight first.

The trees around her were still, or so they seemed to be.

Just in case, she raised the sharpness of her blade once more.

She assessed everything she could, using every sense, but there were no sounds or scents that seemed off about this particular area.

 _Okay..._ She began by pulling up the hood of her cloak that had been whipped back by the wind in her short-lived flight just now. _They launched us on the eastern side of the cliff, so I should assume the relics are located out in this direction... or could it be they're actually back the way I came and launching us out this way was a ploy?_

Both options seemed entirely plausible. She'd heard rumors about this eccentric headmaster and how he liked to test the freshman's skills. She'd even heard that one year he'd planted the relic pieces at the bottom of a lake.

Either way, the pieces weren't _here_ , and she was wasting time.

She chose a direction and took off, retracting her scythe to prevent drawing unwanted attention to herself. Her white cloak might've stood out in these dark woods, but the swiftness with which she moved was enough to make anyone who happened to see her believe their eyes were playing tricks.

Like a phantom, she stole through the shadows, keeping her eyes and ears alert at every swerve.

She ran for several minutes and encountered nothing. A few times she thought she smelled something foul, but she knew a good huntress didn't stray from her intended mission if she could help it.

But then, there was something she couldn't turn away from.

She skidded to a halt, not even short of breath as she listened.

She could determine the sounds of fighting, multiple awful roars tearing through the forest. There were definitely at least several Grimm involved.

But there seemed to be only one human voice grunting and shouting. It was a deep voice, undoubtedly a boy's, and truthfully, he didn't sound like he was doing well.

 _Maybe he hasn't found a partner yet? There's no one there to help him_.

Professor Ozpin had warned them all beforehand that they could very well get injured or even die in these woods.

Summer _refused_ to let a companion die. Not if she could help it.

She veered off toward the direction of the noise, heart pumping as she drew her scythe. She could see them now, the black and white bodies of the Beowolves, snarling and snapping at a lone figure.

The blonde boy's back was to her as he parried a wolf with a sword, firing a bullet down the beast's throat. But another one was already upon him, and a second was charging at his blind side. He cursed as they surrounded him and closed in.

Summer was just in time.

She flashed past in a streak of white, decapitating the nearest wolf with deadly precision. The blade cut through muscle and bone as though it were cutting through softened butter.

She whipped around and lopped off the arm of another, then impaled her blade through its spine.

All the while, she never looked over at the boy. She had no problem in fighting these Grimm, but she wasn't the best at interacting with people.

And besides, she wasn't sure she was ready to have a partner yet.

With all but one wolf now dead, she used its presence to keep the boy's attention on the Grimm and away from herself. Summer took her leave, disappearing as quickly as she'd come, before the boy could even guess what had happened.

Summer hurried off, not wanting to risk the boy following her.

Pelting through the trees, she expected a bit of a run before she encountered her next issue.

But the Grimm had other plans.

She nearly crashed into the hide of a towering Ursa, squeaking as she turned at the last second to avoid it. But the tip of her boot hit a root, and with an awful crack, her ankle gave.

Yelping, Summer fell onto her side, dust and dirt flying up into her face, making her eyes water. Her scythe slipped from her grasp across the forest floor, leaving her utterly defenseless.

As the enraged Ursa turned itself to face her, she found herself wishing that boy _had_ chased after her after all.

The great bear pushed itself up onto its hind legs, its massive jaws parting wide enough to fit her skull between them with ease. A terrifying roar erupted from its throat, and the reverberations made her bones shudder and her stomach flip. The five-inch claws swung wildly in midair before the Ursa leaned forward, fully intending to crush her beneath its weight.

Summer pushed herself with all her might, scrambling toward where he scythe lie. But the sting in her ankle prevented her from getting far, and she crashed back down within seconds.

 _This is it. Dead on my initiation. How stupid-_

She managed to grab the tip of her scythe's handle and she dragged it towards herself, but all she could do was point the blade up as the bear came down on her.

Bellowing, it fell onto the blade, but only its shoulder was pierced. An explosive roar of rage temporarily deafened Summer as blood spilled out over her.

Adrenaline seized every beat of her heart as she struggled with the enormous beast, trying to pull her blade to the side and puncture its neck.

But the Ursa's weight was too much for her.

The claws swiped mere inches from her cheek. Summer pushed with all her might, knowing it wouldn't be enough.

 _No, no- please-!_

She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the rank breath on her skin.

And suddenly, the Ursa's furious roar cut off unnaturally.

Instead, a horrendous gurgling sound came forth, and the strong, unmistakable metallic scent of blood filled her lungs.

Summer dared to crack open an eye.

A long, slender blade was looking back at her.

It had been pierced through the back of the Ursa's neck, and was now protruding from the front, coated in crimson. The Grimm sagged, nothing but deadweight now, and Summer yelped as she lost grip on her scythe.

But the creature didn't crush her as she'd been expecting.

The owner of the blade in its throat gave a grunt, and with a mighty shove forced the corpse to fall to the side, thudding just a foot away from a blood-spattered Summer. Baffled, she looked up, expecting to see that blonde boy from earlier.

But the person who had just helped Summer was definitely not the person Summer had helped.

She adorned clothes the colors of bloodied Grimm, deep red and dark black. Her pale skin highlighted the darkness of her thick onyx hair that fell partway down her back.

Her eyes were scarlet in color, and had she not been smiling faintly down at Summer, she might've been scared. Her voice was low and mature as she spoke.

"Are you alright?"

She flicked the blood off her sword before returning it to the massive sheath, which Summer could see had various chambers of Dust within it. She nodded, trying to remember how to use her own voice.

"Yeah... Thank you."

The other girl offered her hand.

"Raven."

Summer timidly accepted her hand and stumbled to her feet.

"S-Summer..."

She stammered for a combination of reasons. One was that her ankle still stung, and she was having a hard time finding her balance.

And the other was that this girl was very pretty.

 _And I don't see anyone else with her._ _So... that means..._

When she realized what this meant, Summer quickly reached back to pull her hood over her head again, peeking nervously up past her bangs.

"Ah, s-so then... we're...?"

"Partners, it seems," Raven finished. Her eyes shifted down to Summer's ankle. "How bad is it?"

Summer sucked in a quick breath.

"Ah, it's fine! Probably just a sprain. I can still fight and everything. I've got to finish this initiation..." she mumbled.

Raven was still holding onto her hand to support her, and Summer could feel her cheeks growing warmer by the second. Raven kept her steady for a moment longer before deciding she could stand on her own and letting go.

"I saw what you did back there," she said. "You helped him. I was about to do what you did, but you got there first. It's ridiculous. I saw at least four other people ahead of me, and I thought maybe one of them would help him. But not a single one of them did. They just passed him by without a care in the world."

Summer gasped.

"What? How could they do that?" Normally, she wasn't very social, especially not around such a stunning, rather intimidating girl. But when an issue she was passionate about came into the conversation, she rarely kept her mouth shut. " _None_ of them tried to help him?"

Raven shook her head.

"They were probably hoping the Grimm would take out some of the competition. Disgusting."

"Th-That's awful!" Summer cried. "We're not supposed to be letting each other die out here on our initiation day! We're supposed to be forming relationships and helping one another! What kind of a huntsman or huntress leaves behind a person who needs help?"

She hadn't realized she'd raised her voice in her outrage, and she quickly squeaked and slapped a hand to her lips.

But Raven wasn't upset with her. She nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Which was why I was surprised and relieved to see you there. Or at least, I think it was you. You're incredibly fast."

It took Summer's brain a moment to register the fact that she was being complimented.

"O-Oh! N-Not really, I-I mean I just... I just did what I thought was right."

Raven smiled again.

"And that's why I'm looking forward to having you as my partner. It's nice to meet you, Summer."

Summer felt it was only proper etiquette to greet her back properly. Shyly, she removed her hood to reveal her face, even though she knew it must have been pink.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you, Raven."

And that was how it all began.

Summer's first love.

After their encounter, they set off together through the woods, discussing theories about where and what the relics might have been.

They engaged in battle with many other Grimm, each girl occasionally catching glimpses of her new partner's fighting techniques.

Summer was amazed by Raven's sword and how she could charge it with different kinds of Dust depending on what was most appropriate for any given situation.

And Raven admired her speedy, merciful blows.

Summer was a girl who believed not even Grimm deserved to suffer. She always ended her kills as quickly and cleanly as possible. Her ankle didn't hold her back very much, but even the few times when she stumbled, Raven was there to cover her or give a supportive push to her back.

They hurried on together, voicing concerns about how strange it was that they weren't seeing any other people.

Until, as fate would have it, they quite literally stumbled upon two familiar boys.

The four of them came skidding to a halt just before they could collide head-on, Raven grasping Summer's wrist to pull her back so she wouldn't plow into the blonde boy. Summer recognized him at once as the boy she'd secretly helped.

And evidently, Raven knew the other boy quite well.

"Whaddaya know!" the boy with slick black hair laughed. "Thought you'd outdo me and get to the relics first, huh sis?"

"Sis...?" Summer mumbled. When she looked back and forth between them, she noticed the striking resemblance of their facial features, their jet-black hair, and their reddish eyes.

Raven heaved a sigh.

"Drop the sibling rivalry, Qrow. It makes you seem even pettier than you are."

"Why, you-" He lunged at her, but she sidestepped and aimed a skillful kick to the back of his knee, causing him to fall face-first into the dirt.

"Nice try, little brother. Maybe next time."

Summer peeked from around Raven and saw the boy named Qrow spitting out dirt, but he was smiling.

"One day, sis," he said.

As he stood, he introduced his sister to the partner he'd found, the blonde boy Summer had helped. His name was TaiYang, and Summer instantly noted how unique his voice sounded as he greeted them.

Summer didn't have the confidence to speak just yet, but Raven seemed to understand her dilemma and introduced her to the boys.

Even though they'd only been partners for such a short amount of time, Raven seemed to know that Summer was a rather introverted, shy person.

Since Raven and Qrow were siblings, and they were all somewhat familiar with one another now, the group decided to continue on together.

It was a series of various other fights until they finally found the relics that had been placed. Summer found the relics very strange, but intriguing.

They were blank photographs.

She chose one for Raven and herself while Qrow picked one for him and TaiYang.

Once they'd traversed back through the forest and reached the Academy, Ozpin congratulated them on their findings and exceptional work.

It was then Glynda revealed she'd been monitoring them and all the other freshman all the while on her scroll. She spoke to Summer and Raven in somewhat of a private tone.

"I saw what the two of you did, helping that boy and each other when so many others just hurried along. _That_ is the kind of loyalty and compassion Professor Ozpin is looking for in his students. I commend you both."

Raven dipped her head.

"Thank you, Professor."

Summer was amazed that her partner could reply to Glynda at all. She herself merely bowed shyly and kept herself partially hidden behind Raven.

Later that evening, once all of the students had either emerged from the forest themselves or been recovered by search teams, a ceremony was held.

He formed their teams, unsurprisingly merging Summer and Raven's partnership with that of TaiYang and Qrow.

Though the latter boy groaned and pretended to hate the idea of being on the same team as his sister, Summer could see the excitement in his eyes.

And Raven kept chuckling to herself, promising to whip him into shape.

Summer was still a bit awkward around TaiYang. He always gave her strange looks, as though he wanted to say something to her, but she always did her best to keep Raven in between him and herself.

From that day forward, they were pronounced to be Team STRQ, and when Ozpin declared in front of the entire school that Summer would be the leader, she very nearly forgot how to breathe. Raven needed to pat her on the back to snap her out of it enough to at least bow to Ozpin, though speaking was out of the question.

That night, they were brought to their dorm room, where Raven and Qrow quickly decided they wanted to sleep as far away as possible from one another.

The boys opted to move their beds to one side of the room, while the girls did the same on the opposite side.

Summer's bed was put between Raven's and the wall, and when she finally laid down for bed that night, she had to turn and face the wall.

Her heart hadn't stopped fluttering for a second since she'd first met her partner's gaze back in the forest.

She thought that perhaps it might stop after a few days, once they'd all gotten used to life at Beacon.

But she found it happened every time she was near her, which was a _lot_ of the time. They were partners, after all.

The day before classes began, they were given the school uniforms.

It was somewhat similar to the clothes Summer wore for combat, but she didn't feel right wearing the short skirt and blazer without her cloak, so she opted to keep it around her shoulders at all times.

But the second the bathroom door opened and she looked up to see Raven dressed in the same uniform, Summer needed to sit down on the edge of her bed.

She was just so _pretty_...

She pulled her hood up as far as it could go to hide her blush, and thankfully her teammates were there to take her partner's attention.

"Looks good," TaiYang commented. It was a lot less than the almost excessive compliments he'd given Summer herself, she noticed.

Qrow was less of a flatterer to his sister.

"It'd look good on anyone else but you," he grunted. "I can't wait to see those skirts on the other girls."

"Disgusting." Raven grabbed his laughing face and shoved him back a pace. She sat down on the bed right beside Summer and pulled her in. "Don't worry, Sum. I'll protect you from that pervert."

She said it half-jokingly, but Summer took the words to heart. She did her best not to squeak and panic as Raven moved closer to her, keeping an arm around her shoulders.

The boys commented that they planned to get some lunch and soon took their leave.

Summer didn't know whether to dread or savor her proximity to Raven, so she did both, praying her frantic heartbeat wasn't as noticeable as she felt it was.

Raven scoffed as the door closed behind her brother.

"He's awful. I'm gonna kick his ass..." She finally released Summer and leaned back on her palms. "Anyway, I think it looks great on you. But it's best with the cloak."

She didn't want other people seeing Summer without it. Only Raven got that privilege.

The heat in Summer's cheeks was almost unbearable now, and she tugged the hood harder.

"Thanks... Raven, you... it looks really... really nice on you, too..."

"Thanks."

Raven reached out to pat her hood lightly.

Summer liked that she never tried to pull her hood off or force Summer to show her face when she didn't want to.

She liked a lot of things about Raven, probably far too many.

. . .

When their classes started up, they sat next to each other in every lecture they had together, and during lunch.

They studied together, often alone with one another in the library or in their dorm room while the boys were off doing other things.

Somehow, Summer concealed her feelings for the entirety of their freshman and sophomore years.

She didn't know how she'd done it, but she'd managed to keep her mouth shut about how she felt towards her partner, no matter how badly she felt the need to tell her.

There had been several battles where she'd almost done it, fearing it might be the last time she got to see Raven.

Some of the battles they fought were brutal, the Grimm vicious.

Despite how the huntsmen and huntresses were learning more and more and honing their skills and perfecting their techniques by the years, the Grimm were evolving in their own way.

Summer was always worried when one of her teammates got hurt, but the fear was twice as worse whenever it was Raven.

Once, her partner had thrown herself in as a human shield to defend Summer and had gotten her stomach shredded in the process.

That was the worst night of Summer's life until that point, sitting by Raven's bedside, clutching her hand and sobbing bitterly until dawn.

Raven was unconscious for an entire day after that, though she was stable.

It was TaiYang who tapped Summer's shoulder and coaxed her to leave the hospital room, to go back to the dorms and rest herself. She hugged him and wept for a long time before she could manage to do so.

But after a rest and a shower, she'd used the school's kitchen to bake a batch of cookies for when her partner woke up.

Summer was the only one present in the room when Raven opened her eyes. She'd just placed the tray of warm cookies down onto the bedside table when it had happened, and she couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears all over again.

Wailing softly, she'd collapsed into Raven's arms and sobbed apologies.

Raven never blamed her.

"It's alright, Sum," she kept telling her. "It's alright." And she'd kissed her cheek very softly, before whispering into her ear. "I'm glad you're safe..."

And Summer cried harder.

She didn't know what that kiss had meant, not until another year later.

. . .

They'd been through so much together by that point, countless more battles, some physical, some mental, and plenty emotional.

More exams, more studying, more homework.

More Grimm, more injuries, more pain.

By the middle of their third year together at Beacon, everyone on the team had a scar or two to conceal. Raven had the most, and Summer knew that most of them should have been on her own body, not her partner's.

It happened one night after a particularly tough, exhausting mission.

Summer just couldn't get the images out of her head.

Raven had been cornered by the beasts, and Summer was unable to move or speak to help her.

She watched as her partner was battered by the vicious claws and marred by snapping fangs.

She watched the life pulsing out of her throat in crimson rivers.

She watched the light fade from her eyes as she reached for Summer and called for help that would never come.

She watched her die.

Over and over again.

Summer couldn't wake up.

She thrashed in her bed, strangled gasps and silent pleas for help flying from her constricting lungs. Her torment was silent, but dangerously violent.

Only Raven woke, sensing something was wrong.

She'd known Summer for years now, and she knew what happened to her sometimes. The nightmares became real for her, and whatever happened to her in them affected her in real life as well.

As she quickly threw the covers off of herself, she realized how bad it was this time.

This was the worst she'd ever seen.

Raven was the only one who knew about Summer's condition, and she did her best to keep it that way.

Urgently, but quietly, she moved onto her partner's bed, trying not to wake the boys across the room. She grasped her shoulders to keep her from thrashing and turned her onto her back.

Tears and sweat were streaming down her face, her lips parted in a breathless scream. Summer's heart was hammering so ferociously Raven feared it would burst through her chest. She fought to keep her still, worried she might hurt herself if she thrashed too violently.

"Summer!" she hissed. "Sum, wake up! Wake _up!_ "

She shook her as much as she dared in an effort to force her awake. Summer jolted beneath her just before her eyes flew open, teeming with terror.

"Ra...ven..."

Her voice was so thin it was almost inaudible, and despite how badly her chest was heaving, she didn't seem to be breathing.

Raven pulled her up into her arms and held her tightly, desperately.

"I'm here, Sum... I'm right here..."

Summer couldn't breathe. Her throat was clogged with something thick and awful, and her entire body was pounding.

Raven only dared to hold her so tightly because she was trying to keep the girl's heart inside her chest where it was supposed to be.

Summer was in so much pain, more than Raven had ever known herself.

She was _so_ scared.

For _her_.

Both of them were scared for the other.

Summer fully believed she'd just watched Raven die, and Raven knew she'd almost witnessed her partner's death before her very eyes.

She couldn't bear it any longer.

She kissed her.

At first it was to force air into Summer's lungs, to remind her body how to function, until she could gasp in the much-needed oxygen.

Then it was for another reason.

And Summer kissed back.

Through the tears, the pain, and the fear, they found love, a love they'd both known for many years, but only now could they afford to _make_ it known.

Hours passed.

She kissed her so many times.

Soft, then hard.

Hard, then soft.

Until the tears stopped.

Until their hearts slowed.

Until they didn't care who found them wrapped in each other's arms in the morning.

* * *

They kissed in secret.

Behind the locker room doors, hidden in the corners of empty classrooms, beneath the sheets of blanket forts.

They didn't tell anyone.

* * *

They stayed together throughout their senior year in secrecy.

Then through graduation.

After that, the four of them weren't ready to buy their own houses yet, so they continued living together for a time.

And still, Raven and Summer kept their relationship a secret.

They made plans to tell the boys soon...

* * *

. . .

One day, before they had made their relationship known, Raven started acting strangely for no apparent reason.

It was the day after she'd returned from a solo mission, one that Summer was overjoyed to see her come home from. She'd celebrated by baking cookies for everyone, but Raven didn't even eat one.

She refused to kiss her like she'd used to, refused to hold her or be held.

When Summer had asked her what was wrong, Raven could only tell her one thing.

"Something's going to happen..." she'd said. "And I... can't avoid it."

Summer asked her where she'd heard about this, what it was, what she could do to help.

But Raven couldn't afford to explain things.

She was going to have to hurt a lot of people. Mainly the person closest to her.

She didn't want Summer to suffer the pain that would come with her inevitable abandonment of the team, not when Summer loved her so dearly.

So Raven made a choice.

She hurt Summer in the worst way possible.

And left her.

* * *

She slept with TaiYang behind Summer's back, but it was only several months later when Summer found out.

Because of the swell of Raven's stomach.

Raven hoped Summer would hate her for it.

That way, when the inevitable happened, Summer wouldn't miss her, wouldn't be hurt by what she needed to do.

But Summer didn't hate her.

Not for anything.

She never could.

And it killed Raven to do this to her.

To have Summer _know_ what she'd done, despite how dearly they loved one another.

But Summer had accepted Raven's feelings for TaiYang.

"So long as you're happy."

She'd said it with a smile that shattered hearts to pieces.

* * *

Raven gave birth to her daughter a few months later.

They all helped to raise her.

Raven named her Yang.

Every time Summer looked at that baby, her heart broke a little more.

But she couldn't help but love her as though Yang were her own.

Now that the baby had been born, Raven and Summer decided never to tell of their previous relationship.

Summer told herself she'd moved on, knowing that Raven's feelings for her had faded into feelings for TaiYang instead.

But she didn't know it wasn't like that for Raven.

Raven still loved her dearly, perhaps even more than she loved TaiYang.

But it was all a matter of which person she was willing to hurt the most.

She'd never told her brother, but Qrow knew.

Somehow, she knew he did.

* * *

One year after Yang was born, on Summer's twenty-third birthday, Raven vanished.

But not without breaking all of their hearts.

Particularly Summer's.

She wept every night, brokenly wailing out for her best friend and partner.

She cried harder than she ever had in her life.

And TaiYang never so much as shed a tear.

He closed himself off, became despondent, and barely ever looked at his daughter.

Qrow took care of Yang for a time, and when he could, gently asked for Summer's help with the baby.

She was broken, but she did her best for Yang's sake - she was all Summer had left of Raven now.

Just that child and five years' worth of memories.

Memories of Raven's warm hugs, how she'd understood Summer better than anyone else in the world, how she'd kissed her so tenderly...

Summer didn't sleep much after she vanished.

Deep down, she knew this had been what Raven had foreshadowed to her once before, that something unavoidable was going to happen.

Which was why Summer believed her partner was still alive, somewhere.

She wanted to find her one day, just as she'd found her in the Emerald Forest so many years ago.

She cried herself to sleep for many nights, but her heart was just in so much pain.

TaiYang and Qrow suffered, too.

During the most vulnerable of times, they did things without thinking.

Whomever would creep into Summer's room at night seeking comfort, she'd accept him.

Desperate and shattered, they acted without thinking.

But they didn't ever want to believe those things were mistakes.

* * *

Two years after Yang was born, Summer gave birth to her own daughter.

She named her Ruby, and she raised her alongside the daughter of the woman she'd once loved, and had never stopped loving.

She loved TaiYang and Qrow too, but she'd never once for a second stopped loving Raven, not even on those nights when she'd done things she told herself she'd never regret.

She loved them all.

She loved her daughter.

She loved Raven's daughter.

But she wanted her back more than anything.

. . .

Summer raised Ruby to believe TaiYang was her father.

Like her mother, Ruby loved everyone she knew.

She loved Yang, her big sister.

She loved the man she was told to be her father.

She loved the man she was told to be her uncle.

And she dearly loved her mother.

Despite all the pain and uncertainty Summer had suffered through since her freshman year at Beacon, she had to recognize how much love had blossomed from it all as well.

Even if it was painful, it was still real.

It was that love that had given her a best friend, and taken her away.

It was that love that have given her relationships with the two men in her life, and twisted them until it had wrung out the poison.

And it was that love that had given Summer her precious daughter.

But that same love would take her away.

* * *

She'd never stopped loving Raven.

She'd never stopped wanting to find her.

But just as had happened to Raven, Summer needed to disappear.

She knew Raven's pain now as she left them all behind with nothing more than warm kisses, silent tears, and a cloak draped over a crib.

She left it all behind, never knowing if she'd ever be able to find it again.

* * *

 **A/N: Some of what you've read is based off the theory that Summer had relationships with TaiYang _and_ Qrow, and that Qrow may be Ruby's father. But he and Summer had an affair, so they decided to say Ruby was TaiYang's.**

 **There are a lot of little hints at things that the canon will probably prove to be inconstancies, and again Summer and Raven probably didn't happen. So yes, if you're going to complain, don't review.**

 **If you like my work, you can support me on as Kiria Alice!**

 **Please review!**


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